[Amps] Checking for IMD

[Peter Chadwick]

W4EF said:
>Even the 110 MHz head isn't terribly stable, Peter. I agree that a modern
PLL/DDS based synthesizer for this analyzer would be a really useful<
Provided you keep the spurs down! Always a problem with DDS.
What I do like about the 141 series is that it requires intelligence between the ears of the operator, rather than in a chunk of fused sand! Modern spec. ans. give digital readouts to 1/100 or 1/1000 of a dB, which we all know is meaningless, but people believe them. A spectrum analyser is quite capable, without any encouragement, of lying like a personnel manager. Additionally, it tells you things that you'd rather not know.........The 10/100 Mhz plug in isn't too bad. though.......I can show my age by remembering when a 141 with 110 MHz plug in was 120% of my annual salary....in a company where for once, I was paid somewhat over the odds. Oh, that it still was so........25 years ago, my house then cost 4 times my annual salary - my present house would cost 8 times it!
A major problem I've found with the 141 series is that a bit of dirt on the bandwidth or scan width switches is a real pain, often manifesting itself as a stability problem, and some switch cleaner cures it. The tracking generator is a boon, and I bought one from an advert on this reflector. Which is one more reason why I am more than pleased to subscribe to contesting.com, and I'd encourage everyone else who is a regular reader to Amps to do the same. As an aside, if you subscribe to contesting .com and you disagree with the Amps Administrator, you have at least some weight behind you if you want to complain!
73
Peter G3RZP